Vinyl appliques are known and have been made by a variety of methods. For example, a vinyl sheet may be imprinted, cut to a desired shape with a die, and attached to a fabric by heat welding, sewing, or gluing. In more sophisticated methods, a vinyl sheet is imprinted, and then welded to the fabric by radio frequency welding, ultrasonics, or vibration. In the more sophisticated processes, the vinyl sheet may also be cut to shape at the same time as the welding step, so that excess vinyl can be peeled off. It is also known to place a sheet of a foam material between the vinyl and the fabric to provide an applique with a three-dimensional or puffy appearance. Examples of these more sophisticated processes are U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,035 dated Dec. 21, 1970 to Kuroda, U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,034 dated Dec. 21, 1970 to Kuroda, U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,814 dated May 1, 1973 to Kuroda, U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,888 dated Sep. 4, 1973 to Kuroda, U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,358 dated Sep. 11, 1973 to Kuroda, U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,156 dated Jan. 1, 1974 to Kuroda, U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,437 dated Oct. 22, 1974 to Robinson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,043 dated Dec. 17, 1974 to Kuroda, U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,288 dated Feb. 25, 1975 to Ercolano, U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,454 dated Mar. 16, 1976 to Burgheimer, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,272 dated Jun. 5, 1979 to Kuroda, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Various kinds of inflatable devices have also been known, and include inflatable holiday decorations as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,902 dated Oct. 7, 1990 to Webb. However, heretofore inflatable appliques have not been attached to clothing articles. In some instances clothing articles have been inflatable in their entirety, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 1,803,898 dated May 5, 1931 to Diamond for a inflatable life preserver provided in a bathing suit, or in the inflatable muscle man shirt disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,927 dated Jan. 19, 1982 to DeBose.